America’s first university – almost

Students and alumni of the College of William & Mary take pride in the fact that theirs is the second-oldest college in America, pre-dated only by Harvard.

Those in the know – and with a competitive bent – like to point out that when it comes to vision, forethought, and planning for the university, W&M beat Harvard to the punch by decades.

The first university in America actually was chartered in 1618, and slated for construction on 10,000 riverfront acres in what is now Varina.

Enthusiasm for the project ran high in England. London Company records from the time state that King James authorized bishops and clergy in England to make a collection of 15,000 pounds “for the college and university of Virginia.” Among early donations to the cause were 1,500 pounds, altar cloths, books, communion silver, a damask tablecloth and “a carpet of crimson velvet.”

In Jamestown, members of the first session of the Virginia Assembly voiced their support for the school and requested workmen to be sent to the colony. Within three years, construction of the college was underway, a small Indian school was operating, and more than 100 tenants had settled on college lands to support the school with agricultural work.

The Rev. George Thorpe, a gentleman of the king’s Privy Chamber and member of the Council for Virginia in England, had been elected deputy and superintendent of the college.

But for an Indian uprising and the abandonment of the Citie of Henricus in 1622, the college might have gone on to thrive – and students at America’s oldest colleges would hail today not from Harvard or William & Mary, but from the University of Henrico.

Though the school did not materialize, plans for its creation – and the college that later resulted in part from them – rank 15th on the Henrico Citizen’s list of the most significant moments in Henrico’s history.

Laying a foundationWhile the Colledge of Henricus may eventually have developed into an institution that served the colonists, it was founded more to christianize the Native Americans than to educate the English.

Just days after the Virginia Assembly acted to create the Colledge, it noted as an objective “laying a surer foundation of the conversion of the Indians to Christian Religion.”

Each city, borough, and plantation was required, said the Assembly, to “obtain unto themselves by just means a certain number of the natives’ children to be educated by them in true religion and civile course of life.” Ultimately, it was hoped, the educated natives would return to their own people and convert them as well.

Perhaps the most likely inspiration for the college, historians say, was Pocahontas’ conversion to Christianity some years earlier.

Captured by the English and held in captivity, Pocahontas, the daughter of Chief Powhatan, learned the English language and ways of life and was baptized as a Christian. John Rolfe, who married Pocahontas and took her to England, wrote that the marriage was “for the good of the colony and the glory of God,” and suggested that it might help bring peace between the Indians and English.

After the marriage, relations between the colonists and the Powhatan Confederacy were briefly more peaceful. But after Powhatan died in 1618, his brother Opechancanough took over; that same year, Pocahontas died while preparing to return to Virginia.

Within two weeks of her death, the Church of England began a fundraising campaign to support a missionary college in Virginia.

When Thorpe arrived in the colony in 1620, he did his best to win over Opechancanough -- even to the point of building an English-style house for him in the forest. The house apparently delighted the Indian chief, who was fascinated in particular by the lock-and-key mechanism and would lock and unlock it dozens of times a day.

Attack ends plansJohn Daniel Pagano, who presented a program about the Colledge at a March event in Henricus Historical Park, reports that among the English George Thorpe was known as “a very pious man with a good reputation. Everyone trusted him.”

Creating “a school for the infidels” was, Thorpe believed, a noble mission that justified any means for removing the savages from their ignorance and bringing them to Christ.

But while Thorpe saw his mission as beneficial and viewed himself as the Indians’ friend, he never won the trust of Opechancanough.

Although Opechancanough played along with Thorpe’s plans and even visited the site of the Colledge, he saw the fledgling Indian school as a threat. From the Powhatans’ perspective, says Pagano, educating the Indian children meant one thing: uprooting them from native ways and assimilating them into English culture.

In the spring of 1622, after a settler had killed his adviser, Opechancanough struck back. In a series of surprise offensives, all coordinated to take place at the same hour, the Powhatan tribes attacked a number of smaller English settlements and plantations that included Henricus and the Colledge.

Seventeen men were killed on college lands. Thorpe, who lived at Berkeley, was warned of the attack by a servant but refused to believe there was danger. His body – one of 347 casualties – was later found mutilated. Survivors fled to Jamestown and, despite efforts to revive the projects, Henricus and the Colledge were never rebuilt.

But even without the massacre, says Pagano, it’s hard to say whether the Colledge would have survived. Considering the ambitious scope of the project, it may well have failed on its own.

“It was a great idea,” says Pagano of the college, “but the money wasn’t being raised. . . There was no guaranteed cash in Virginia.”

Who was first?In the coming years, officials at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College hope to revive Henricus Colledge, in one sense at least, by developing a Varina campus on some of the same acres designated for the 17th-century school.

Meanwhile, it might be said that William & Mary – chartered in 1693 and considered the direct-line descendant of the 1619 Colledge – went on to fulfill part of the promise foreseen by George Thorpe, Virginia Company members and early settlers.

As for the bragging-rights debate between Harvard and William & Mary alums, one need only consult the W&M website for an arsenal of arguments.

As one page carefully notes, “[W&M] was the first college planned for the United States. Its roots go back to the college proposed at Henrico in 1619.”

More than one observer has pointed out that, traditionally, W&M bills itself as “America’s second-oldest college,” inserting the Henrico connection to provide historical perspective and making no claim as to institutional continuity.

But in discussions with a Harvard grad, it is said, the W&M attitude shifts. Since W&M’s charter or foundational concept was established years before Harvard’s founding, the argument goes, William & Mary is actually the nation’s oldest college – in its “antecedents.”

And considering its well-documented antecedents in Henrico, it would not be at all inaccurate to describe William & Mary as America’s “first college in its roots.”

The Henricopolis Soil & Water Conservation District will sponsor a tree seedling giveaway on April 2 at Dorey Park Shelter 1 from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and on April 3 at Hermitage High School parking lot from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Bare-root tree seedlings are available to Henrico County residents free of charge for the spring planting season.

The following seedling species will be available: apple, kousa dogwood, red maple, river birch, red osier dogwood, loblolly pine, sycamore, bald cypress, white dogwood and redbud. Quantities are limited and trees are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Each participant is allowed up to 10 trees total, not to include more than five of the same species. > Read more.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) recently launched an online directory of permitted bingo games played in Virginia. Listed by locality, more than 400 regular games are available across the state. The directory will be updated monthly and can be found on VDACS’ website at http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/gaming/index.shtml.

“Many Virginia charities, including volunteer rescue squads, booster clubs and programs to feed the homeless, use proceeds from charitable gaming as a tool to support their missions, said Michael Menefee, program manager for VDACS’ Office of Charitable and Regulatory Programs. > Read more.

Richmonders Jim Morgan and Dan Stackhouse were married at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Lakeside Mar. 7 month after winning the Say I Do! With OutRVA wedding contest in February. The contest was open to LGBT couples in recognition of Virginia’s marriage equality law, which took effect last fall. The wedding included a package valued at $25,000.

Morgan and Stackhouse, who became engaged last fall on the day marriage equality became the law in Virginia, have been together for 16 years. They were selected from among 40 couples who registered for the contest. The winners were announced at the Say I Do! Dessert Soiree at the Renaissance in Richmond in February. > Read more.

Two events this weekend benefit man’s best friend – a rabies clinic, sponsored by the Glendale Ruritan Club, and an American Red Cross Canine First Aid & CPR workshop at Alpha Dog Club. The fifth annual Shelby Rocks “Cancer is a Drag” Womanless Pageant will benefit the American Cancer Society and a spaghetti luncheon on Sunday will benefit the Eastern Henrico Ruritan Club. Twin Hickory Library will also host a used book sale this weekend with proceeds benefiting The Friends of the Twin Hickory Library. For all our top picks this weekend, click here! > Read more.

In a spot that could be easily overlooked is a surprising, and delicious, Japanese restaurant. In a tiny nook in the shops at the corner of Ridgefield Parkway and Pump Road sits a welcoming, warm and comfortable Asian restaurant called Ichiban, which means “the best.”

The restaurant, tucked between a couple others in the Gleneagles Shopping Center, was so quiet and dark that it was difficult to tell if it was open at 6:30 p.m. on a Monday. When I opened the door, I smiled when I looked inside. > Read more.

Cinderella is the latest from Disney’s new moviemaking battle plan: producing live-action adaptations of all their older classics. Which is a plan that’s had questionable results in the past.

Alice in Wonderland bloated with more Tim Burton goth-pop than the inside of a Hot Topic. Maleficent was a step in the right direction, but the movie couldn’t decide if Maleficent should be a hero or a villain (even if she should obviously be a villain) and muddled itself into mediocrity.

Cinderella is much better. Primarily, because it’s just Cinderella. No radical rebooting. No Tim Burton dreck. It’s the 1950 Disney masterpiece, transposed into live action and left almost entirely untouched. > Read more.